Global Footprint Network
Understand Physical Realities
Accept and Adapt
Live within Gaia
The organization Global Footprint Network provides an on-line calculator that you can use to measure your impact on the Earth and its resources.
The Ecological Footprint is a metric of human demand on ecosystems, or more precisely on the planet’s biocapacity.
Here are the questions that they ask.
How often do you eat animal-based products?
How much of the food that you eat is unprocessed, unpackaged or locally grown?
Which housing type best describes your home?
What material is your house constructed with?
How many people live in your household?
What is the size of your home?
Do you have electricity in your home?
How energy efficient is your home?
What percentage of your home's electricity comes from renewable sources?
Compared to your neighbors, how much trash do you generate?
How far do you travel by car or motorcycle each week?
What is the average fuel economy of the vehicles you use most often?
When you travel by car, how often do you carpool?
How far do you travel on public transportation each week?
How many hours do you fly each year?
My results were as follows:
Personal Overshoot Day: 25 February 25th
Ecological Impact: 6.5 Earths
They say that humans use as much ecological resources as if we lived on 1.7 Earths. So, I have a ways to go just to have the average global impact ― which is already twice as high as it should be.
One of our theological guidelines is Live within Gaia. Evidently, we have a ways to go.
